Trust, Sense of Security, and Immigration Policy Preferences of the Kenyan Public

The global refugee crisis and public backlash against immigration is at an all time high -especially toward Muslims in Christian-majority countries due to the perceived association with global terrorism.Building on theories from the communications field, we propose that listening to personal narratives may be an effective strategy for mitigating negative views of immigrant outgroups.We record two personal narratives developed in collaboration with Somalis in Kenya: one highlighting the hardships refugees face, and a second highlighting shared opposition to terrorism among Muslims and Christians.Experimental data from a representative survey in Nairobi shows that both treatments have positive effects on intergroup and policy attitudes.Strikingly, the effects are generally as large or larger among those who hold more negative baseline views.In contrast to many informational interventions, personal narratives offer an effective strategy for attenuating both negative intergroup and policy attitudes that are typically considered resistant to change.